God’s call to all men to repent and to believe the gospel is no more insincere than his command to all men to love him with all the heart. There is no obstacle in the way of men’s obedience to the gospel, that does not exist to prevent their obedience to the law. If it is proper to publish the commands of the law, it is proper to publish the invitations of the gospel. A human being may be perfectly sincere in giving an invitation which he knows will be refused. He may desire to have the invitation accepted, while yet he may, for certain reasons of justice or personal dignity, be unwilling to put forth special efforts, aside from the invitation itself, to secure the acceptance of it on the part of those to whom it is offered. So God’s desires that certain men should be saved may not be accompanied by his will to exert special influences to save them. These desires were meant by the phrase “revealed will” in the old theologians; his purpose to bestow special grace, by the phrase “secret will.” It is of the former that Paul speaks, in _1 Tim, 2:4_—“_who would have all men to be saved._” Here we have, not the active σῶσαι, but the passive σωθῆναι. The meaning is, not that God _purposes_ to save all men, but that he _desires_ all men to be saved through repenting and believing the gospel. Hence God’s revealed will, or desire, that all men should be saved, is perfectly consistent with his secret will, or purpose, to bestow special grace only upon a certain number (see, on _1 Tim. 2:4_, Fairbairn’s Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles). The sincerity of God’s call is shown, not only in the fact that the only obstacle to compliance, on the sinner’s part, is the sinner’s own evil will, but also in the fact that God has, at infinite cost, made a complete external provision, upon the ground of which “_he that will_” may “_come_” and “_take the water of life freely_” (_Rev. 22:17_); so that God can truly say: “_What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?_” (_Is. 5:4_). Broadus, Com. on _Mat. 6:10_—“_Thy will be done_”—distinguishes between God’s will of purpose, of desire, and of command. H. B. Smith, Syst. Theol., 521—“Common grace passes over into effectual grace in proportion as the sinner yields to the divine influence. Effectual grace is that which effects what common grace tends to effect.” See also Studien und Kritiken, 1887:7 _sq._ (_b_) To the second, we reply that the objection, if true, would equally hold against God’s foreknowledge. The sincerity of God’s general call is no more inconsistent with his determination that some shall be permitted to reject it, than it is with foreknowledge that some will reject it.